Mortar is one of those things nobody thinks about until it starts falling out. The joints between your bricks do a quiet but vital job: they hold the wall together and keep the weather out. When the pointing starts to fail, water gets in — and that’s when small problems turn into expensive ones.
As a family-run building firm based in Burntwood, we see a lot of tired brickwork across Staffordshire and the West Midlands — from Victorian terraces in Lichfield to 1970s semis in Cannock and Walsall. The good news is that repointing is a well-understood, reasonably priced job when it’s caught early. Here’s how to tell whether your home needs it.
What is repointing?
Repointing means raking out the old, failed mortar from the joints between bricks — usually to a depth of around 15–20mm — and refilling them with fresh mortar that matches the original in strength and colour. Done properly, it should last 20–30 years or more. It’s skilled, patient work: the raking out has to be done without damaging the brick edges, and the new mortar mix has to suit the age of the house.
The tell-tale signs your pointing has failed
1. Crumbling or powdery mortar
The classic test: run a key or the edge of a screwdriver along a mortar joint. Sound mortar will resist. If it scratches away easily, crumbles to powder or falls out in lumps, it’s lost its strength and it’s time to think about repointing.
2. Gaps and missing chunks
Stand back and look along the wall. If the joints have receded well behind the face of the bricks, or there are obvious holes where mortar used to be, water is already getting in. Deeply recessed joints also leave the brick edges exposed to frost damage.
3. Damp patches inside the house
Damp showing on internal walls — especially after heavy rain, and especially on walls that face the weather — is often failed pointing rather than anything more sinister. If the damp is high up or patchy rather than rising from the floor, the outside of the wall is the first place to look.
4. White, chalky staining on the bricks
Those white, powdery streaks are called efflorescence — salts left behind as water moves through the wall and evaporates. A little is normal on newer brickwork, but persistent staining usually means moisture is passing through joints that should be keeping it out.
5. Spalling brick faces
When the face of a brick flakes, blisters or pops off entirely, that’s spalling. It happens when water trapped in the wall freezes and expands. Failed pointing is a common cause — and once bricks start spalling, you’re into brick replacement as well as repointing, which is why acting early saves money.
6. Cracked joints around windows, doors and chimneys
Chimneys, parapets and the brickwork around openings take the worst of the weather and usually fail first. Cracked or open joints on a chimney stack are worth sorting quickly — water running down inside a chimney breast causes damage you won’t see until it’s well advanced.
Why it doesn’t pay to put it off
Pointing fails slowly, so it’s easy to ignore. But mortar is designed to be the sacrificial part of the wall — it’s meant to weather so the bricks don’t. Once it’s gone, the bricks themselves start absorbing water, and frost does the rest. A repointing job caught early might cover a few square metres of one elevation. Left for years, it can turn into full-elevation repointing plus replacement bricks, damp treatment inside, and in bad cases structural repairs. The difference in cost is substantial.
What does repointing cost in 2026?
As a general guide for our part of the country, repointing typically costs somewhere in the region of £40–£60 per square metre, depending on access, the condition of the joints and the mortar spec. Small patch repairs are often priced as a day rate rather than by area. Repointing a whole house usually lands somewhere between £1,500 and £5,000, with scaffolding — where it’s needed for gables and chimneys — adding to the bill. Older properties needing lime mortar cost more per metre than modern cement-mortar homes, because the materials and workmanship are more involved.
Treat those figures as a starting point rather than a quote — every wall is different, which is why we always look at the job before putting a price on it. Our quotes are itemised with no hidden extras, so you know exactly what you’re paying for.
Getting the mortar mix right matters
This is the bit that separates a proper job from a quick one. Older homes — roughly pre-1930s, which covers a lot of housing around Lichfield, Burntwood and Walsall — were built with lime mortar, which is softer and lets the wall breathe. Repointing those walls with hard modern cement traps moisture in the brick, and the bricks themselves then crumble instead of the mortar. It’s one of the most common causes of spalling we see. A good builder will match the mortar to the house, not just reach for whatever’s on the van.
Colour matching matters too. Fresh mortar in the wrong shade makes a repair shout at you from across the street; a well-matched mix blends in within a season or two.
Frequently asked questions
How long does repointing last?
Done properly with the right mortar, 20–30 years is typical, and lime-pointed walls can go considerably longer. Exposed elevations, chimneys and garden walls tend to need attention sooner than sheltered walls.
Do I need to repoint the whole house?
Usually not. It’s common for one weather-facing elevation or the chimney to fail while the rest of the house is fine. An honest assessment will tell you which areas actually need doing.
Can I repoint brickwork myself?
Small, low-level patches are within reach of a confident DIYer, but the raking out is slow, dusty work, and getting the mix and finish right takes practice. Anything at height, on a chimney, or on an older lime-built house is best left to someone who does it week in, week out.
What time of year is best?
Spring to autumn is ideal. Fresh mortar shouldn’t go in during frosty weather, and lime mortar in particular needs mild conditions to cure properly.
Think your brickwork needs a professional eye?
Brickwork is one of our core trades at DJF Building, alongside our other building services across Burntwood, Cannock, Lichfield, Walsall, Stafford and the wider West Midlands. If you’ve spotted any of the signs above, don’t wait for the damp patch to appear — get in touch for a free, no-obligation quote. We’ll tell you honestly what needs doing now, what can wait, and exactly what it’ll cost.